The Ties That Bind
by Shadow Kat-Lyn
Summary: 6 months after Edward sacrifices himself and gets sent across the Gate, he and Hohenheim have found a way to send him back. But when the cost of returning proves almost too high, can Ed avoid being bound to the evil he and his brother tried to destroy?
1. The Brother That Once Was

**The Ties That Bind**  
**Chapter One:  
**_The Brother That Once Was_

"Edward, are you ready?" Hohenheim asked as he knelt in front of his son, who was standing in the center of a complex transmutation circle. It hadn't taken Hohenheim and Edward long to figure out a way to use alchemy in England, even though it wasn't supposed to work on Earth. By drawing upon their own life energy, they were able to open the Gate that exists within those born on the Amestresian side of it.

"You never told me why you're doing this for me. I want to know." Hohenheim smiled a bit.

"Because you deserve to be home with your brother."

"You're trying to make up for what you did to me, Alphonse, and Mom, aren't you?"

"I guess I am, a bit. But I know that nothing I do will ever earn your forgiveness, so all I can do is send you home to be with your family." Edward nodded.

"Thanks." Hohenheim used a nearby knife to make a cut across both of his hands. The use of their blood was the only way to get the circles to work correctly. He placed his bloody palms on the circle, and it activated, glowing with a bright blue-gold light. "Goodbye... Dad."

--

"Hey, Al? Where are you?" Winry called from the front porch of her house. Alphonse had been living there for the past six months since he had been returned to his ten-year-old body... missing the last five years of his memories. Edward hadn't been found since then, either, which led most to believe he was dead, but there were a few who still held hope for the FullMetal Alchemist's return.

"I'm over here!" Alphonse yelled, running from the side of the house toward the front, an alchemy book in his hand. He stopped short of the porch, however, and smiled brightly at Winry.

"It's nearly time for lunch. Why don't you come in and wash up?" She asked him in an older sister tone. Since there was now a five-year gap between their ages, the two couldn't be best friends anymore. Instead, Winry became like the older sister Al never had, and she finally had the little silbing she wished she had.

"I want to show you something I found in Brother's notebook." He said excitedly. Winry saw that the book he held was his brother's old alchemic notebook. Rose had found it when she had found Alphonse in the Underground City, and had given it to the younger brother.

"Alright, what is it?" Winry asked, leaning on the railing to get a better look at Alphonse, who was now drawing a transmutation circle on the dirt in front of him. He brought out a piece of paper from a pocket, and placed it inside the circle after folding it twice. He was about to activate the circle when it started glowing. Alphonse moved away from it in surprise, and watched it carefully. "What's going on?"

"I don't know..." Then, out of the ground on top of Al's transmutation circle, the Gate formed. Alphonse stared wide-eyed at it, knowing exactly what it was, but Winry screamed and ran inside the house, completely terrified. Alphonse could do nothing more than sit there as the doors started opening slowly. A hand emerged from them, but it was a mechanical _right_ hand. Soon following it was the rest of a body, constantly fighting against long black arms that tried to pull him back into the Gates. The boy managed to pull himself out of the Gate and out of the reach of the arms. The doors immediately swung shut behind him and disintegrated into the air. The boy, however, fell to his knees, staring at Alphonse.

Golden eyes locked onto golden eyes as they both smiled.

"Ed!"

"Al!" Alphonse stood up and ran to his brother, who smiled tiredly. "Guess the old man did something right after all." And with that, Edward fell unconscious.

"WINRY!" Alphonse yelled. "BROTHER'S HOME!"

--

"Hey, Al, do you want some breakfast?" Winry asked as she poked her head inside the small room they had brought 'Edward' yesterday. Alphonse was sitting in a chair against the wall with the door in it, and 'Edward' lay on the small bed opposite that wall, right underneath the window. The badly made other-world poor excuse for automail had been disconnected from him and lay on Winry's workbench in her room, and she hadn't started working on a new set for him.

"I'm fine." Winry scowled at him.

"No, you're not. Why don't you come downstairs and eat a little. He's not going anywhere right now, and I think you could use a few minutes rest."

"I'm not going anywhere, Winry. Not until I find out what happened and why my memories have returned." Al said quietly, his gaze not wavering from the face he wished dearly was his truly his brother's. Yesterday, after seeing the Gate, Alphonse realized that his memories had returned, and felt a bit overwhelmed by them at first.

"I'll bring you something up, then, alright? Will you at least eat a little?" He turned and looked at her with a smile.

"Okay, Winry." She smiled a little before shutting the door and heading downstairs to fix Alphonse a plate of breakfast. Al turned his gaze back to the boy laying in the bed across from him, and all was silent for another minute, until the boy started stirring.

He opened his eyes slowly, and looked around, confused, until he spotted Alphonse sitting nearby.

"...Al?" He asked hopefully, pushing himself into an upright position with his one arm. "Is that really you?"

"Yeah." A wave of relief spread over the boy and he smiled a bit.

"I thought it was a dream."

"What happened to you?" 'Edward' noticed how his brother hadn't moved from his seat, and was addressing him like he was someone he'd never met before.

"After you brought me back using the Stone, I sacrificed myself to get you back. I ended up on the other side of the Gate, in a country called England, with our father. He said that our alchemy didn't work over there, but I found a way to make it work. By using a bit of our soul and our blood, we could use alchemy. So, he decided to send me home and here I am." He said quickly, wanting to know why Alphonse was so cold to him. "But what about you? My sacrifice worked, but what's happened to you in the last six months?" Alphonse stood slowly, and walked over to his 'brother' carefully.

"You remember everything that's happened to us, right?" He asked, staying a few feet away from the elder.

"Of course I do! Alphonse, what's wrong with you?" 'Edward' pleaded. This 'new' Alphonse was annoying him and creeping him out at the same time. He had never known his brother to be so cold and distant.

"Look down." He instructed. 'Edward' looked at him, puzzled.

"Wha...?"

"Look down." Alphonse cut off the question. Edward slowly lowered his gaze until he was staring at his bare chest.

"...No..."

There, in blood red, was the mark of the Ouroboros, the mark of a Homunculus, directly over his heart. And over that, in sharp black, was drawn a bloodseal, the same one Edward had drawn on the armor that had housed Alphonse's soul.

**To Be Continued  
**If anyone wants to find out what happens next, review!

I have completed this, and I'll update this next Saturday, the 26th of April, if anyone likes it. (Thank you O-mirage-O for the idea!) This story is ten chapters plus an eleventh/epilouge chapter at the end.

Be kind, feed the plot kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	2. The Brother That Could Be

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Two:  
**_The Brother That Could Be_

"No..." That was the only thing 'Edward' could think of as he stared at his bare chest, looking at the symbol which looked like a scar over his chest. He couldn't be a... Could he? "...But... How?" Could all the memories he had be fake? It was impossible.

"That's what I want to know. Who created you?" Alphonse asked after a few minutes and very quietly. 'Edward' heard his 'brother's' voice break a bit at the question. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"I remember our father transmuting me to this side of the Gate by sacrificing himself. I forced my way through the Gate, and came out here. I saw you before I passed out! There's not a gap of time between it!" He looked up, almost pitifully at Alphonse, who looked close to tears himself. "...I can't be... No, I'm your brother!" Alphonse looked away from him, to the floor beside the bed.

"It's not a tattoo. It's not a fake. It's a real Ouroboros, and you know that means beyond a doubt that you are... _not..._ my brother. You were..._ created_." Alphonse turned sharply on his heel, walking over to his empty chair before pulling it over near the bed, leaving a good amount of space between him and the bed, and sat down in it. "You're just a Homunculus of my brother with fake memories." 'Edward' hung his head in shame.

He was an alchemist, or at least the 'memories' he had were of an alchemist. He couldn't deny the proof, as much as it hurt. He looked at the Ouroboros with the soul attachment seal over it, and brought up his hand to it. He barely touched it with his pointer finger before he gasped. A strange sensation overcame his body. He was completely paralyzed.

Alphonse, as if he knew what was going on, stood up and came close enough to him to gently pry away 'Edward's' finger from his Ouroboros.

"You did that when I touched it barely too. It only reacts when a person touches it." He said quietly before going back and sitting down in his chair. 'Edward' realized something.

"...But... what about the anchoring seal? I mean, we both know that Homunculus don't have souls, but what if our father attached mine to this body before sending me through the Gate?" Alphonse looked at him as he continued. "All of my memories can't be fake. I mean, I even remember the surprise birthday party me and Winry had for you when you were little."

"...Birthday party?" 'Edward' nodded.

"I think it was when you were three or four. I had asked Mom about it, and she told me when it was and asked for my help. I asked Winry, and we ended up in the kitchen all day, helping Mom make your cake while Pinako watched you over here." Alphonse nodded before getting up and leaving the room. 'Edward' maneuvered himself where he could look out the window while waiting on Alphonse to return.

He came back a few minutes later, with Winry following behind him. 'Edward' looked at Winry in surprise; he hadn't expected to see her.

"Do you... Do you really remember that?" She asked him quietly, and he nodded. "What else? What else from when we were little?"

"Anything that I wouldn't remember, and that Dad wouldn't know about." 'Edward' thought for a moment.

"We camped out on the river with your dad for three days one weekend. I nearly set you on fire." Winry smiled. She remembered the incident perfectly. "And the birthday cake we made for Alphonse with our moms, the one with the strawberries in it. I think it was for the birthday party, but I'm not really sure. We ate half of it before Alphonse ever even got to see it." Winry and 'Ed' chuckled a bit before she turned to Alphonse.

"It's true. Every word."

"...Then... the anchoring seal must..." Alphonse turned to his brother, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

"It's me, Al. I'm really home."

**To Be Continued**  
...That probably seems a little fast for Ed and Al to figure these things out, but they're both prodigies (even though most people overlook that and believe that just Edward is) and they've both seen the Gate, on multiple occasions.

Next up: _The Brother That Is_ on Saturday, May 3!

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	3. The Brother That Is

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Three:**  
_The Brother That Is_

Not even death could part the Elric Brothers. That had been proven beyond all shadow of doubt. Edward survived transmuting his brother's soul to save him. Alphonse sacrificed himself to save his dead brother. Edward just turned around and sacrificed himself to pull Alphonse's mind, body, and soul out of the Gate again.

So why did it surprise Winry that Edward had somehow managed to affix his soul to a body just to come back and see Alphonse again? How could she have doubted his return? She might not know much about alchemy, but she did understand the Elric Brothers. So what if the body Edward now had was supposed to be a Homunculus, an evil being created from alchemy _without a soul_? He still had his, so that really didn't matter, did it?

He was _her_ Edward, and he was Alphonse's Edward. And she couldn't stop the tears. She held them both close, Edward and Alphonse, her two best friends... No, her two brothers, and could only try to stifle her sobs as Alphonse's incoherent apologies and Edward's comforting mixed with them.

They did eventually break apart, though, and got down to trying to uncover the mysteries. Winry sat not a foot away in the chair Alphonse had previously sat in, and Al himself sat right on the edge of the bed. An awkward silence hovered around for a tense half-minute before Edward started talking.

"Why do you look so young, Al?" Alphonse shrugged at the question.

"I'm not too sure myself, but I do have some theories. I was returned to this body when you sacrificed yourself, but I didn't remember anything from when my soul was sealed inside the armor. I just woke up, and Rose was bringing me back here. Rose and Winry helped explain what had happened to us, so I started trying to find a way to bring you back by searching through your notes, but I hadn't found anything yet."

"Wait... You lost all your memories from after I transmuted your soul?" Al laughed a bit at Edward's reaction.

"Don't worry, though. I got them back, yesterday in fact. I think it was when I saw the Gate, but it might have been after you opened them." Alphonse shrugged again a bit. "I didn't even realize it until late last night. But what about you? You said something about Dad, but what exactly happened?"

"Dante sent Hohenheim across the Gate a few days after he left us after you had become the Stone, and I ended up where he was when I sacrificed myself. He told me that our alchemy didn't work, but I wasn't about to take his word for it. I tried everything I could think of, but discovered the power of our blood by complete accident. He then finally figured out how to draw a circle with enough power to get me back across the Gate to here, but only by offering himself for the equivalency." Edward had grown quieter by the end, before sighing and continuing.

"He told me that he didn't care what happened to himself in the end, but he wanted to get me home, no matter what. He said it wasn't out of forgiveness, but more of a promise to Mom. I won't ever be able to forgive him, anyway, but at least he earned my respect."

Silence reigned for another minute or so, until Edward's stomach decided it wanted food and made that fact known, very loudly. The three all laughed a bit.

"I'll go tell Granny about everything and bring up some food. It should all be done by now." Winry said with a smile and reluctantly left. Alphonse turned back to his brother.

"Brother..." Edward cut him off.

"Don't worry. I want real food. Remember when we first brought Wrath off the island? He could eat our food, and it wasn't until after he was fed incomplete Philosopher's Stones that he became all evil and stuff... So as long as I stay away from them, I think I'll be okay." Alphonse nodded a bit before smirking.

"You haven't lost your touch." Edward shot a glare at him.

"Did you think I would? They didn't call me a genius for nothing, you know!" Both brothers started laughing. "By the way, what happened to the arm and leg I made?"

"Winry took them, I think. I know that she ranted a bit after seeing them, though. She made it very clear they were pieces of crap."

"Jee thanks. I designed those myself. Hohenheim made them, and designed all the hookups though. I hate them, but automail doesn't exist on the other side of the Gate. The best they have are wooden prosthetics and I wasn't about to stoop _that_ low." Edward scoffed. Winry came in at that moment, balancing two trays in her arms. How she had gotten the door open was a mystery. She sat both trays on the edge of Edward's bed. The trays had a plate of standard breakfast food, and a glass of milk/juice (Edward's was juice, and Alphonse's was milk. Funny side note: Alphonse loves milk almost as much as Edward hates it.).

"How long have you had those crappy replacement limbs?" Winry asked as Edward and Alphonse began eating. Ed swallowed what bit of food that was in his mouth before answering her.

"About four months, I think. It took me a month to draw out the concepts and Hohenheim another month to actually make them."

"So, you designed them yourself?" He nodded. "Well, at least you didn't go to some hack-job engineer to get those. But thanks to them we're going to have to do a little corrective surgery on your ports. They've been shifted and some of the original surgery could be undone if we try to connect new automail to them." Edward looked at her in horror.

"How much corrective surgery?" Winry sighed.

"A bunch. And on nearly all of the connections on your leg, and little over half of the ones on your arm. We can't even attach a wooden prosthetic to your leg because of the way the ports have been shifted."

"Great."

"Don't look so glum, Ed. I've been apprenticing with Dominic, you know the guy who made Paninya's automail, and he taught me how to make your automail super-light without sacrificing more than 10 percent of its strength and durability. At least with lighter automail you might start growing finally!" Winry smirked as a vein popped on Edward's forehead. "I mean, you're practically the same height you were when you were twelve."

"Stop callin' me small!"

**To Be Continued  
**This is sorta just a set-up for the next chapter, as well as an excuse to put in some rather fluffy stuff. I also couldn't resist the _tiny_ short rant there at the end. :)

Next time: _Explanations to an Officer_ on Wednesday, May 7, 2008!  
Yes, I'm changing my update schedual. I'll now update on both Saturdays and Wednesdays.

Thank you to my... reviewer. I'm increasing my updates for you, tekawolf!

Be kind, feed plot kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	4. Explanations to an Officer

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Four:**_  
Explanations to an Officer_

"Colonel Mustang! Lieutenant Hawkeye! We weren't expecting you so soon." Alphonse exclaimed as he opened the front door on them.

"Hello, Alphonse. We didn't come at a bad time, did we?"

"No, not at all." Alphonse said cheerily. He then stepped aside and invited the two officers inside before shutting the door behind them and leading them to the living room. They seated themselves on the couch as Alphonse walked toward the stairs. "I'll go get Brother. Would you like anything to drink?" Alphonse asked politely, paused at the bottom of the stairs. Both officers denied politely, and Al walked quietly up the stairs.

Roy noticed that Alphonse moved very... gingerly, and walked extremely soft, even in the creaky old Rockbell home. He also made sure to make eye contact with whomever he was talking to, which was something he hadn't done six months earlier when Roy briefly met with him before Rose brought him here.

"He seems... different." Riza said quietly after Alphonse's light footsteps disappeared up the stairs.

"Yes. His mannerisms remind me a little of how he acted when sealed into the armor." Anything else Roy might have said was cut off by a strangled yell from above them, then the 'thump' of someone hitting the floor, followed by the sound of something wooden being thrown. A handclap soon followed, and the faint crackle of alchemy was heard for a few seconds. About a minute later, the sound of a few heavy wooden steps was heard, heading toward the stairway. Alphonse appeared coming down it first, who smiled a bit before sitting down in a chair in front of the military officers.

"Brother's on his way. He damaged the ports on his shoulder and leg, so he'll have to undergo surgery before he can even use a wooden prosthetic. So, he has to use a crutch."

"Did he just throw the crutch at the floor?" Roy asked with a faint smile. Alphonse nodded.

"Yeah. He's been doing that a lot, actually. It frustrates him to no end to have to use it, and he hates it."

"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here." Edward said, paused about halfway down the stairs. Roy and Riza didn't even realize he was there, and jumped slightly as they turned to look at him. He was dressed in his black pants, the left leg tied at around his knee so he wouldn't get the crutch tangled up in it, and his old jacket, the black one with the silver clasp, long hair falling loosely around his face and shoulders. His left hand controlled the crutch under his left arm as he finished descending the steps and walked over to the empty chair beside his brother. He shoved the crutch underneath his chair after he sat down, and took in Roy's new eyepatch before giving a smirk.

"I can't say that I'm not glad to see you, Colonel. Six months is too long to wait to insult you." Roy smirked back him.

"I'm Brigadier General, now, FullMetal. Even after six months, though, you haven't grown a bit." Alphonse, predicting Edward's reaction, _gently_ held his right shoulder down.

"Brother, why don't you explain what happened." He hoped to defuse the situation. Ed just scoffed a bit before glaring again at Mustang.

"I went to the Underground City. I fought Envy. I died. Al used the Philosopher's Stone to bring me back. He disappeared. I sacrificed myself to get Alphonse back. I woke up on the other side of the Gate. I found a way to get back and here I am."

"That's it?" Roy asked after a minute of silence.

"Oh, and Alphonse has all of his memories again." There was still something else, but Roy didn't know what it was. There seemed to be a cloud of self-loathing around Edward, and he realized that it wasn't connected to his partial disability. Surrounding both Elric's, though, was a cloud of discomfort and unknown guilt, and Roy and Riza both sensed this. It was almost tangible, the feeling so overwhelming.

"There's something else." Roy honestly expected Edward to deny the accusation he stated, and then Alphonse would convince him to tell his old commander. However, Edward looked away and to the floor in front of him.

"Yeah." He took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself to face some unseen anger in Roy, before looking up, almost gently, at Roy. "Do you sense anything different about me?" Roy stared at him blankly, glanced briefly at Alphonse, before reassuring the boy.

"No, FullMetal." He answered honestly. Riza gave a negative reply also, neither officer comprehending the odd question. Edward smiled a bit.

"I'm glad, but that makes this a little harder..." He said almost under his breath as he reached up and deftly unbuttoned the single clasp on his jacket. He turned his attention back on the floor as he flipped the hair on his left shoulder back behind it before pulling the jacket back a little, showing them the Ouroboros and soul-binding circle over his heart. There were two almost inaudible gasps.

"...What... the... hell?" Each word increased in volume a little, and a bunch in intensity, before Edward, who had closed his eyes, heard a rustle and the sound of a gun being cocked.

"No! Don't shoot him!" Alphonse yelled, jumping up and standing in the path of Riza's handgun. Edward's eyes snapped open and saw Al's back.

"Al, what did you do?" That accusation ticked Edward off.

"Alphonse did nothing! Don't you dare accuse him of anything!" Edward yelled, standing up on his one leg, glaring daggers at Roy. "I brought this on myself." Alphonse still stood protectively in front of his older brother, who was now holding onto his shoulder to keep himself balanced.

"Please, let us explain." Al pleaded, and Roy placed a hand on Riza's gun after a moment, forcing her to lower it. She looked at him in bewilderment, but she holstered her weapon anyway, and the brothers' sat back down in their chairs. Edward showed off the symbols again.

"You overlooked the soul-binding circle. Somehow when I was fighting within the Gate to return here, my body went through the transformation from human to Homunculus. I'm not sure how or why, but I'm pretty sure I probably never will fully know, and I honestly don't really care. My soul was reattached to this body, which makes me different from Bradley and Envy. I still have my soul." Al, seeing the look of doubts still on the officer's faces, tried to convince them further.

"Brother proved that it was really my soul bound in the armor by having me tell Winry things I remembered when I was little that Brother couldn't know about. I did the same thing to him and it's really Brother."

"I believe you." Roy said after a few tense minutes of silence. Ed and Al looked at him in shocked disbelief. "After everything you two have done, I think it's possible you found a way to keep your soul even though your body had to be transmuted to be returned here." Ed smiled a bit.

"Thanks."

"But what about the other Homunculi's need of incomplete Philosopher's Stones?"

"It wasn't a need, I don't think. The Stones gave them the ability to regenerate and survive for so long, but since I don't have any inside me, I can be killed with one shot. My body, for all practical purposes, is human. If I did manage to get a hold of the Stones, I think that they'd probably drive me insane, like they did with Wrath." Roy nodded. The theory with about the Stones wasn't something he could test, so he accepted it as a high probability of being accurate, since Ed and Al knew more about the Homunculi than he would ever hope or want to know.

"What do you two plan on doing now?" Roy asked after a minute.

"Well, Winry has to repair Brother before we can do anything, but we'll probably visit Teacher again."

"You don't plan on returning to the military?" Edward shrugged.

"The only reason I joined was so we could search for a way to get our bodies back to normal. I'm pretty sure that no matter what I do now, there's no going back. Besides, I'm not going to sacrifice thousands of lives for myself. I liked helping people, but I just don't know what I'll do now."

**To Be Continued**  
And there's chapter four! Sorry it's a day later than promised, but my internet messed up last night, so I wasn't able to upload it.

Thank you to my reviewer! This actually does have a plot, and it's revealed next chapter.

Next up: _The Enemy of Old_ on Saturday May 10th!

Be kind! Feed plot kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	5. The Enemy of Old

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Five:**  
_The Enemy of Old_

"Ready?...One... Two... Three!" Winry deftly turned the handle in her hand, connecting Edward's nerves to his automail arm. Pinako had connected his leg at the same time, as per Edward's request. It had been a month and a half since his return as a Homunculus, and they had already preformed the corrective surgery on his ports. Winry had spent a great deal of time on this new set of automail, working tirelessly for the past week.

The automail twitched as Edward bit his lip to keep himself from crying out in pain, allowing his head to drop to his chest. Winry and Pinako maneuvered the boy to a nearby couch, where Winry promptly covered him with a blanket and left, to let him rest.

Alphonse was sitting on the porch outside, waiting on his brother patiently. If there was anything Alphonse had learned in his life, it was patience. Having to sit completely still for hours on end while the night passed was no easy feat for him to grow accustomed to, but he had, in a sense. The reason many people doubted he was related to his brother because of the patient way he had with everything, the complete opposite of Edward.

So, when he heard the sounds of his brother's distinctive footsteps approaching the front of the house, he continued to watch the sky patiently until he heard the door open and his brother step up next to him. He heard him laugh, and he looked up at him.

"How do I look?" He asked, echoing the words from years past. Alphonse just smiled and stood up next to his brother. He was moving his fingers randomly, turning his wrist this way and that.

"Better than what you designed?"

"This is in a whole other dimension when compared to my pieces of crap." He stretched his arms out in front of him and interlocked his fingers together. "You have no idea how annoying it is to not be able to do something as simple as this."

"That's why we're here, Ed." Winry said softly, leaning on the doorframe of the front door. "How's it feel to not walk with a limp or with a crutch?"

"You have no idea how wonderful it is."

--

"Hey, Brother?" Alphonse asked his brother quietly as Edward prepared to walk off the front porch.

"Yeah, Alphonse?" Ed turned and looked at his brother.

"Do you think you can still do alchemy?" Edward thought for a moment.

"...I don't know..." Edward looked around for something to transmute, and saw his crutch laying on the ground in front of the porch. A sadistic little smile found its way onto Edward's face as he jumped down the few steps to the ground and bent down to the ground in front of the evil crutch.

"Brother... What are you doing?" Alphonse asked, watching him from his spot leaning against the railing.

"Payback..." He said while clapping his hands together and touching the crutch. The familiar blue alchemic glow encased it, and a few seconds later a large sheet of paper was laying where the wood had been. He picked the sheet up before violently ripping it in half. He placed the two new sheets together and ripped them, and continued until the paper was too tiny to rip anymore. He threw the pieces on the ground and stomped on them, twisting his foot to grind them into the ground.

All the while ranting about the crutch and how stupid it was.

--

"...Shou Tucker... The former Sewing-Life Alchemist..." Dante said cooly as she approached the monster of a chimera that was now Tucker. He looked at her wide-eyed, backing away from her gently, the lifeless body of Nina clutched protectively to his chest.

"Who are you? How did you find me?" He asked in his whisper-of-a-voice. They were in the largest chamber underneath the old gun factory where he previously worked.

"Don't worry, Tucker. I'm not with the State. My name is Lyra, and I know how you can get your precious Nina's soul back." She said gently, glancing at the body in his arms.

"But I already tried... And now she doesn't like to play anymore..."

"Yes, but that's because you don't know how to attach a soul to something." She smiled. "But there are two brothers who can do it."

"Edward and Alphonse..." He replied after a minute.

"Yes, the Elric brothers. They can attach souls easily." She paused, letting the twisted gears of Tucker's mind spin a little. "Will you let me help?" She asked and he nodded.

"Please, help me bring back my Nina."

"Of course. Clear out this room, and erase all the transmutation circles. I'll be back with a friend in a little while. We're going to need his help." Tucker nodded, and Dante-Lyra exited the dank basement. She walked out of the factory, back toward Dublith. While she was walking away, a soft white light encased her, and when it disappeared, a young androgynous teenager with long green-black spiky hair was in her place.

Envy laughed a bit.

"The first step to destroying those bastards is complete."

--

"Brother!" Alphonse jumped to his brother's side, who had nearly collapsed as he entered a coughing fit. It didn't last for long, and he was soon standing, waving his brother away.

"I'm fine, now."

"You need to go to a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor. It's just a simple cold." He argued.

"But it's not even cold here yet."

"I picked it up in England. I already felt sick when I came back." Alphonse decided to stop arguing with his brother, but shot him a glance that made the elder look away. The brothers then proceeded with their previously assigned task: shopping for food for dinner. They were living with Izumi again, because she was whipping Edward back into shape. He had decided to rejoin the Military, so he could help people. Alphonse wasn't going to join this time around, either, but he'd still be at his brother's side.

But for the past two weeks, Edward hadn't been acting normally. At first, he just started eating less and less. Then, the week before, the coughing fits started. They were horrible, and Alphonse couldn't figure out what was causing them.

Edward knew, but he couldn't tell Alphonse. He couldn't tell him that their theories were wrong. He couldn't tell him that he knew his body was slowly trying to shut down. He couldn't tell him that he could feel his life slowly being drained away. He couldn't tell him that he was dying. And he definitely couldn't tell him the only remedy for what was happening to his body.

He couldn't tell him that he needed Philosopher's Stones to survive.

**To Be Continued**  
Gasp! Poor Ed! I'm an evil authoress to put him through this...Oh well.  
There it is. The rest of the plot is crammed into the next chapter. Sorry if everything seems... disjointed. It's just my writing style.  
Also, I would like to add that Lyra/Dante-Lyra was, in fact, Envy in disguise. Just in case anyone missed it!

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter and/or added me to their alerts lists/ favorites: Yugisrose, Bar-Ohki, Yenattirb, Sesshs-Grl, Bulma and Vegeta fan, and Dagger-dice. Dial-ups a pain and I'm not able to reply individually. Sorry!

Next: _Preparations_ on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. After this chapter, be prepared for really... intense... stuff. I'm not going to say much more than that on the subject.

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	6. Preparations

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Six:**_  
Preparations_

The difference between humans and Homunculi is that humans have souls, and Homunculi do not. Their souls have been used in the transmutation that bring them into Amestris from the other side of the Gate, or their soul doesn't come with them when they cross the Gate. Thus, Homunculi can't perform alchemy.

Edward, however, hadn't been brought back through human transmutation on the Amestresian side of the Gate. The transmutation was performed on the English side of the Gate. He was from Amestris, though. He was able to keep his soul even though he shouldn't have. Thus, Edward was able to still perform alchemy.

Edward knew their alchemy was fueled by the deaths on the other side of the Gate. He knew that whenever someone dies on either side of the Gate, their soul is sent across it. But he still didn't know what happens to a soul when someone dies on the Amestresian side of the Gate.

He knew he would soon find out.

--

"Gluttony!" Envy looked around for him. Somehow, when the brainless beast was caught in Alphonse's transmutation for his brother's soul, Gluttony's Ouroboros had been restored, returning his mind and stopping him from rampaging recklessly.

"Here Envy!" Gluttony said, popping out from behind a large piece of debris from what was left of Lab. 5. The military hadn't even touched the small remnants of incomplete Philosopher's Stones. _'At least Pride did _something_ useful.'_ Envy thought as he picked up the container.

"We need to get this stuff back to Tucker's place." Gluttony nodded before picking up the only other container left and they quickly headed out of the building together. They now had two tanks of liquid-gel-like Philosopher's Stones. It should be more than enough power for what Envy planned.

--

"Envy!" Wrath was surprised he had found the eldest Homunculus in the forest. Wrath had been approached by Envy days before, Envy asking him to participate in his plan. Wrath had refused, but now was chasing the shape-shifter around Dublith's vast surrounding forests. Envy was stopped in a small clearing, and Wrath approached him.

"Huh?" Envy looked up at the sound of his name, thoroughly not expecting it. "Oh, it's you Wrath. I thought you didn't want to join me." He said with a cocky smile, placing a hand on his hip. Wrath just shook his head as he caught his breath.

"...Edward's back..." Envy looked at the smaller Homunculus in surprise. "He's in Dublith with his brother and _her_." Envy laughed a bit at the irony of the situation. "But...There's something else..." Wrath looked away.

"What?"

"He's... He's one of us..." Envy stared at Wrath for a good two minutes.

"...**WHAT**!?"

--

"Edward?" Izumi asked softly as she knocked on the door of the spare bedroom Edward and Alphonse were living in while they trained. She heard a faint voice on the other side, and the rustle of the sheets, before a definate "I'm decent" came, muffled a bit by the thick wooden door. Izumi smiled a bit at Edward's choice of words before she opened it and walked in, shutting it quickly behind her. "I sent Alphonse out with Sig and Mason for the day." Edward was sitting up on his bed, clutching his sheets over his bare chest, hiding his Ouroboros and bloodseal from his teacher. They still hadn't told her. He looked at her with a slightly vacant look before he nodded a bit and stared out the window to his left.

"Thanks. He needs to stop worrying over me so much..." He mumbled softly. Izumi, slightly unsure of how to approach the topic she needed to discuss with her apprentice, hesitated a moment.

"I know you're a Homunculus." He turned to her in shock before smiling sadly.

"I should have known you'd be able to tell..."

"So you're not denying it." He shook his head no a bit before he dropped the sheets from his hand, showing her the markings over his heart.

"My body was somehow turned into that of a Homunculus's while I was inside the Gate. Because of Hohenheim's sacrifice, I guess my soul got re-bound to this body. I honestly thought you would have mentioned something earlier, or at least question me thoroughly."

"I did. When I asked you and Alphonse that first night back about what all training I had put you through. You remembered the individual training, and even brought it up first."

"Oh..." Edward fell silent, trying to figure out what seemed different about Izumi. It was there, the more he thought about it, but he just couldn't figure out what it was, but then it clicked. "You have those fake Philosopher Stone's like the other Homunculi used to eat." Izumi was a bit surprised, but slowly nodded, reaching to her belt and pulling off a small black drawstring pouch. "How could you make those, Teacher?" Edward asked, staring at the pouch. She slapped him across the face, not as hard as she would have if he was in a better condition, but hard enough to send him sprawling halfway off his bed, face on the floor.

"Don't you ever say something like that to me again." Edward flinched at Izumi's tone, and immediately pulled himself the rest of the way off the bed and sat up right. He didn't even look up at her; instead, he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry Teacher. I know you better than to think that you would sacrifice humans for those Stones. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." Edward was truly sorry; he hated making his teacher sad, almost as much as he hated seeing Alphonse or Winry sad. "Where did you get those?" He asked, hoping it was the correct way to phrase the question.

"I found them at Dante's house when I found that letter of your fathers." She said, placing the stones on Alphonse's bed then helping Edward stand up. He was incredibly weak, and as he stood another bought of coughing racked his body, causing him to lean solely on his sickly teacher, unable to even support himself. "I was keeping them for him..." She said quietly as his coughing eased and she helped him sit in his bed again, leaning up against the wall. Her eyes glanced out the window. Edward nodded a bit when he could manage.

"Get them away from me, please." He said, his voice weak and wavering. "I can't stand having them so near me."

"But don't you need them?" She asked, a little unsure. He shook his head a bit.

"Homunculi need them to achieve their human form and to be able to regenerate. Since I came through the Gate and am already in my human form, I don't need them." He paused, looking at the bag like it was going to attack him. "Besides, those stones are made from humans; I couldn't _eat_ them." Izumi looked at her student, slightly impressed by his revulsion of the stones, but at the same time she wasn't.

"What's wrong with you? I can tell you know what's happening." Edward smirked a bit.

"Yeah. Homunculi don't have souls. They aren't designed to have one. My body is slowly shutting down because of that."

**To Be Continued**  
Ta da. This is a very short chapter. That's why I'm updating this one today, on Tuesday, instead of Wed. Just because of all my wonderful readers/reviewers.

I'm not sure if I replied individually to everyone this week or not, so in case I didn't, here's my thank you list for all the people who caused fanficdotnet to send me all the automated emails (and that's a good thing!): Yugisrose, Sora Livana, Bakero-sama, XxHouranxX, Emma Oakwood, tsumesgirl05, Melanie Malfoy, Sevir, and Azure Teriques.

Thank you so much!

Tomorrow: _Vengeful Child _on Wed. May 13, 2008! Be prepared for intenseness and... stuff...

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	7. Vengeful Child

AN: The next few chapters, including this one, contain very colorful word usage by Ed and Envy. This mainly goes back to the wonderful name they use for Hohenheim, but there are other words in there. Just warning you folks. And on with the show:

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Seven:**_  
Vengeful Child_

"...Damn you... Envy..." I managed to gasp as I glared up at him. A handful of stones nearby weren't painful to me. Two tanks of the liquid, however, were about ten times worse than my automail surgery. I couldn't even get on my feet, it hurt so bad. I was on my hands and knees, placed not a foot away from the two tanks of gel-like Philosopher's Stones on either side of me with Envy standing over me.

I didn't have any doubts about coming here. That was the worst part of it. I knew Tucker hadn't left the old gun factory he used to work in, but I didn't know that Envy and Gluttony survived our last encounter months ago. I thought they had gotten caught in Al's transmutation of me and were destroyed or else sent to the other side of the Gate. I had even thought I had seen Envy force his way through them. I've really started to suck at figuring out things lately.

"Brother!" Aw hell... They got Alphonse too? I managed to turn my head toward my brother's voice, and saw him being restrained by Gluttony. Al was fighting with all his strength against the Homunculus, but he wasn't anywhere near strong enough to break free of him. I should have never let him come with me to do this.

We didn't even plan on fighting. We were just going to make sure Tucker was still here before we called in Mustang to come pick him up. Of course, we'd stay there to make sure he didn't leave, but it wasn't supposed to be eventful. But Envy had beat us to him. All that was left of Tucker was a few pieces of hair.

Envy had managed to trick Tucker into thinking that me and Al could somehow bind Nina's soul to the lifeless doll of her he created using the Stone before. He had even gotten a hold of two tanks of the liquid Philosopher's Stone from Lab. 5.

"Let him go!" I managed to say, refusing to give Envy the satisfaction of hearing me scream in pain. He smirked at me before kneeling down to my level.

"Oh, no, I can't do that." He turned his head away from me and toward Gluttony and Alphonse. "Because, you see, he's also one of the Bastard's children, and I can't just _forget about him_." He stood up and took a few steps back, that sadistic grin on his face. "But what to do?" He asked rhetorically. "I had planned on just killing you and your brother, possibly letting you watch while I killed him... But I don't think I'm going to do that now that you're half-dead already."

"...Bastard...!" Envy smirked.

"Yes... I think that's what I'll do now..." He swiftly came up beside me and kicked me in the side, sending me into one of the containers. Luckily, I didn't knock it over. I cried out in pain despite myself, and clutched both my hands to my heart, the source of my pain. Envy's kick wasn't to hurt me, it was to flip me onto my back and nearly immobilize me with pain by being so near the Stones. He achieved that goal. I couldn't see through the pain, but I did feel him rip off my black jacket and pull my hands away from my heart. I had a slight advantage before that, because he didn't know where my seal was, but he had just gotten me to reveal it. "So, that's what's happening to you..."

"...Go...to...hell!" I spat weakly. He laughed a bit. I managed to get one eye open, but from the way my head was laying it was impossible to tell what Envy was doing. I then found myself suddenly pulled up and then slammed down onto my back, hard. I managed to not vocalize my pain this time as I looked up at the dark ceiling overhead.

"Brother!" I managed to hear Al's cries again. The pain had started to subside, but it was still there. He'd probably been screaming like that for a while now, his voice was starting to crack. If I could just keep Envy's attention on me until Teacher arrived, maybe she could rescue Alphonse. She had to be on her way by now; we told her that we would only be up here for an hour. She told us that she would come and get us no matter what if we didn't show back up, but could she take on Gluttony? Probably. I'd just have to keep Envy distracted. He appeared standing over me, upside down in my eyes.

"...Don't you... want to know about... Hohenheim?" I asked, and saw the change in his eyes. It went from playfully murderous to rage at the mention of our father's name. I smirked up at him, and he snarled at me.

"Where is the bastard? I'll kill him!" I laughed, even though it hurt.

"You're too late. He sacrificed himself so I could come back from the other side." For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw grief flash across Envy's face. No, I was in way too much pain to be seeing clearly. There was only rage, and now it was all directed at me.

Shit.

--

"He sacrificed himself so I could come back from the other side." My father was dead. For one instant I felt sad, but no, I couldn't do that. HE LEFT ME TO DIE! No, I could never feel sad over his death. AND HE DIED FOR THIS BASTARD! How dare he? How dare he die for the son he knew for all of a year? Oh, he would pay now. Edward, the object of our father's affection, would now suffer for both him and Hohenheim.

I picked him up by the collar of his jacket and punched him in the face. His head hung limply. He probably couldn't feel it from all the pain the stones were causing him. Serves him right. The Bastard ended up with not one but two Homunculus sons, and the second one still had his soul. At least his body is dying because of that.

I punched him again for good measure, sending blood flying to the ground from his bleeding lip, before I threw him to the ground on his back again. I smiled.

"Who should I torture first, then?" I asked him, not expecting an answer. "I can either kill you and let your brother watch, or I could kill your brother while you watch." He tried to roll over onto his stomach, but I stopped him. I kicked him into one of the containers of Stones again. He screamed from being so close to them... Hmm... What if I forced him to eat some of the Stones? Would they tear him to pieces or would they devour his soul and turn him into a braindead shell, like Gluttony? Whatever the outcome, it wouldn't be pleasant, that was obvious from the way he clutched his Ouroboros. I smiled before I walked over to the container he was laying against, in too much pain even to move away from it. I held one hand under the small spout on the side of the container before I turned the handle with my other hand, allowing a decent sized glob of Stone to fall into my hand. I quickly shut it off. "Gluttony, bring the other one over a little closer so he can watch." I ordered the lard who stood in the corner. He was holding the younger brother from behind, keeping his arms back so he couldn't bring them together and transmute. At least Gluttony was smart enough to figure that out. He stood just outside the young brat's reach of the tanks, and had him turned toward me and his brother.

"Let him go!" He shouted, and I smirked some more.

"Why should I? Our father loved you two the most, so don't you think it's _equivalent_ to get my revenge?" There is only one thing I understand about alchemy, and that's equivalent exchange. That was my whole philosophy behind my revenge on Hohenheim and his other two children. The younger one faltered and I smirked; he hadn't ever considered I did what I did for a reason. Then, a look of anger and hate filled his eyes.

"You've already satisfied your equivalency! You already killed Brother once!" Ah, touché, little brother.

"But not with you. Don't you think that you should suffer as well?"

"Then take me! Just leave Brother alone!" Aww... He was willing to sacrifice himself for his brother.

Idiot.

**To Be Continued**  
And so begins the one-person-ness and the intenseness. There's a lot of action in these next couple of chapters. I personally love the first-person stuff, and it gives me a chance to reveal a lot about the characters and stuff. It kinda killed me to have to write Envy like this (I do not like anime-Envy that much. Manga-Envy's so much cooler!), but that's what the role calls for. Hope I don't overdo it for him...

Thank you to my three wonderful reviewers (seriously, I didn't think I'd get any reviews since I said that I would be updating today, but I did. Yay!): Bar-Ohki, Yugisrose, and Sora Livana. Thanks so much!

NeXT: _Sacrifice and Revenge and Equivalence_ on Saturday, May 17th, 2008.

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	8. Sacrifice and Revenge and Equivalence

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Eight:  
**_Sacrifice and Revenge and Equivalence_

"Just leave Brother alone!" After everything Brother's given up for me, isn't it time I gave up something for him? Even if it's just a few extra moments or a painless death, I'd give up my life for him. We weren't going to come out of this alive, that was certain already. Someone would die here, and as long as those stones were nearby Brother would be in too much pain to fight. Not that he could fight very well anyway; he was so sick. If what Envy said was true, then Brother couldn't survive much longer thanks to his soul.

Envy smiled at me. I couldn't help but try to escape Gluttony even more.

"You want me to come after you instead?"

"Just let Brother go." He took a step toward me.

"No!" Brother got both mine and Envy's attention. He had made it to his knees, even though I could tell he was in pain. "Don't you... Don't you dare... touch him..." He managed to gasp through clenched teeth. He was in so much pain, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"So, you got a little fight left in ya, pipsqueak?" Envy asked, turning back to Brother, who was now making his way to shaky legs. If looks could've killed, Envy would've erupted into flames from Brother's gaze. Then, with the last of his reserve strength, he kicked over the tanks of Philosopher's Stone. The tanks didn't shatter, thankfully, but it did put more space between them and Brother, and his breathing eased slightly.

"You deserve nothing per equivalency, you sick murderous bastard." Brother said, falling to one knee again, this time by his own power. He clapped his hands and slammed them into the ground. Two small ripples formed in the floor, one on either side of him, pushing the two containers farther away. He then clapped again, and transmuted his automail into a blade. He rushed at Envy, who jumped into the air and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back a few feet, but he managed to roll and pop back up in a defensive stance.

"You want to take me on? Did you forget what happened last time?"

"No... But I won't fall for that again." If only I could transmute... Wait... The floor! I looked down at the floor and saw it was caked with dirt and dust. I quickly kicked off one of my shoes before using my toe to draw a simple circle into the dirt and activated it with my foot. I turned the ground beneth Gluttony and Envy's feet to sand, and managed to worm my way out of the falling Gluttony's grip.

"Damn you..." I heard Envy snarl as he lunged for me, but I dodged, and, clapping, quickly transmuted a staff out of the floor and sliced Envy's back. He fell, and I backed up closer to Brother.

"Are you okay, Brother?" I asked him, and saw him nod out of the corner of my eyes.

"You shouldn't have tried to sacrifice youself for me. It's my job to protect you."

"When we were little, maybe, but if I don't protect you, who will?"

--

"If I don't protect you, who will?" Well, he had a point there.

"You're never going to let me win, are you?" I asked him, getting a smile in return. But, our attention was divided as Envy stood up, healed, an ugly scowl on his face. He didn't attack us though, but looked like he was planning something. There was no way I was going to be able to run at him again, so I stayed standing, waiting on him. He transformed his arm into a spike and charged at us. Alphonse blocked with his staff, and I sliced at him with my armblade, hoping to hurt him enough to give us enough time to take off for the door, but I missed him. **I MISSED HIM!!**How could I miss him? Apparently large amounts of pain on the body causes a bit of dizziness and blurred vision, because I then noticed how everything was swaying slightly, and that was why I missed him. Things didn't look like that before. Shit!

Then I started coughing again. Dammit all! I fell to my knees, covering my mouth and trying not to completely fall over. I heard Alphonse yell something to my left, but I couldn't tell what it was. Not only was that pain starting to prick at the corners of my mind, but I felt blood in my hand from where I was coughing.

"Al... You have to get out of here..." I felt my brother beside me, so I told him that much, but the rest of what I wanted to say was cut off by some more coughing.

"...Not without you..." The rest of his reply was cut off, and he stood up and quickly blocked Envy's onslaught again. Alphonse couldn't die here with me... Not when I have the chance to get him out. I could barely see straight by this time, but I stood up, a little wobbly, but firm. I blocked Envy's next attack, which were a set of kicks aimed at my chest, but he still managed to get around my automail and kick me back. I ended up next to one of the containers of the incomplete Philosopher's Stones, and it sent ribbons of pain through my body again.

"Brother!" I heard Envy laugh a bit before a dull smack, and the clank of Al's staff falling to the ground. I clenched my teeth, and tried to sit up again, clutching my heart, only to find myself pinned to the ground by Envy's foot. He was glaring at me, and I knew that it was over. There was no way we were going to get out of here.

"I'm tired of playing with you. It's time for you to die."

--

"It's time for you to die." I said softly to the pathetic Homunculus under my foot. I kneeled down beside him, moving my foot so that I still held him down with a knee, and picked up the piece of Stone I had dropped in the fight earlier. He flinched away from it as I held it over him. He was more perceptive of the Stones now, and even this tiny piece caused him harm. Good.

"Brother!"

"Gluttony, get him!" I ordered without hesitation. "Just don't kill him!" Gluttony started moving, showing off his speed, which was surprisingly fast for someone so huge. He captured the pipsqueak's brother easily, since I had already broken his ankle. It had happened when I managed to knock away his staff, which was pretty pathetic, given his history of alchemy. Seeing the brother captured, I turned my attention back to the Bastard underneath my knee. I smirked as I moved back his jacket and pinned down his arms with my free hand. I slowly brought the Stone toward his Ouroboros, enjoying the pain it caused him as it inched closer and closer. His brother was nearly in tears, I could tell from the patheticness ringing loudly from his voice as he desparately fought of Gluttony.

I was giddy from the pain I was causing these two bastards, and I paused my hand over the Ouroboros for a moment before I turned my hand over and let the Stone plop down onto his seal.

I would have never expected what happened next.

His Ouroboros started glowing red, and he screamed out in pain. I stood up, slightly frightened of the glowing Ouroboros and bloodseal. He couldn't even move from the pain. My grin widened. The Stone was tearing him apart.

It suddenly sank into his Ouroboros, and I backed up a little. He turned over onto his stomach, almost like he didn't have a choice, and managed to make it to his hands and knees. He looked up weakly at his brother, and I _nearly_ felt sorry for him.

"...Al...I... I'm sorry..."

--

"...Al...I...I'm sorry..." He collapsed onto the ground. I was numb. I couldn't even feel the throb of my broken ankle. No... This was not happening... No... Brother couldn't... Not again...

"There's no use in beating up a corpse." Envy said after checking Brother's neck for a pulse. He turned toward me, and this time I didn't struggle. There wasn't any point in putting up a fight now... He was gone. There was no way I could bring him back. No, I didn't want to bring him back. It would be an insult to him. He'd hate me for that.

"...No..."

"Ready to join your big brother?" Envy asked me, holding up my chin so I would have to look at him. I couldn't let him see me cry. No, I had to be strong and face my death with courage... Like Brother... Wait... Was he moving?

--

_(Well, I could have left you with that much until Wednesday, but I'm not _**that **_evil. That would have been a __**very**__ cruel thing to do to you readers, and I've had a bunch of absolutely wonderful reviewers. So, thanks to them, here's the rest of chapter eight!)_

--

I blinked. I took in my surroundings without moving. I was in a dark room, and there were people nearby. The way I was facing I couldn't see them, but I could tell they were there. I checked my body, twitching my fingers and toes, and nothing seemed to be wrong. I slowly pushed my way up to my knees and looked around. There was a container of red liquid near me, and the other people were in front of me. I brushed some of my gold hair out of my face - I would have to cut that later - and I recognized the three people. I couldn't remember their names or who they were to me, but I _knew_ them.

"Ready to join your big brother?" The small one with green hair asked a golden-haired boy that was being restrained by a large man. The gold-haired one wasn't looking at the other, though. He was staring straight at me. I stood up, and tried to speak.

"That's not fair." The green-haired one whipped around and stared at me for a moment. Why did they keep staring at me? "You shouldn't fight two-on-one."

"...You..." Aw crap. The little one looked like he was going to kill me. I didn't even know if I could fight, much less take him on. He was the same as me, I could tell, and so was the large man. No... We weren't the same. They were evil and had a murderer's eyes. I knew I couldn't be like them. I couldn't kill someone. It wasn't right.

"Brother! You're alive!" The gold-haired one yelled. Was I his brother? I tried to remember something, anything, but it was clouded by pain. I shook my head no; I couldn't face that pain yet. I wasn't strong enough.

"I don't know who you are, but I am not going to let you beat him up unfairly." The littler one glared at me for another moment before lunging at me, trying to punch me. I blocked with my right arm, and was surprised to find that it was metallic. It responded just like my normal arm, but it was all metal. I shrugged off the blow, and kneed the green-haired one with my left leg. It was metal too. Just what had I done to get these limbs?

He (the green-haired one was a guy, right?) was flung back a bit, but recovered quickly, and tried to attack me again, this time going for a high kick to the face. I barely dodged it by rolling to the side, but I wasn't able to get into a defensive position in time to block his next kick, so I recieved the blow full force. It hurt, but I felt my body healing rapidly. I couldn't loose to this one... I had to help the human boy escape. He looked too nice to be a fighter, and he had called me brother. Even if I couldn't remember it, he obviously loved me enough to risk his life to save me, so I had to do the same for him.

After all, wasn't that equivalent?

**To Be Continued  
**Muwahahahaha! I bet you people didn't see that one coming! I love plot-twists. They're fun. Tell me what you think about it! Also, everything will be explained at the end! I won't leave you in the dark for much longer! Let's just enjoy the angsty drama!

Kudos to all my reviewers, and the people who added me to their alerts list/favorites list: BlueRyuu, XxHouranxX, kim carol, Lost In A Dark Wood, and xXDeidara-chanXx! Many thanks to you!

Only two more left! _Reparations_ will be out on Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

I think I said that there were eleven chapters to this, but I'm undecided as to whether to post the very last chapter. I think it leaves the story unfinished, and whenever I try to come up with a next chapter, I end up drawing a blank or it is a piece of crap. So, I _might_ post the last bit as an extra, or I might leave it off completely. Reviews could change my mind!

On a completely unrelated note: Congradulations to any graduating seniors out there! My high school's graduation is on the 22nd, but I know that some schools get out earlier than that. Congrats!

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	9. Reparations

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Nine:**_  
Reparations_

The little green-haired one stood over me as I tried to steady my breathing. The ribs he had fractured with those kicks were already healing over, and the stray cuts I got when I fell were already gone, I could tell. He glared at me as I looked up at him, and transformed his arm into a spike. How did he do that?  
"I don't know how you keep coming back, but this time I'll make sure you don't." What was he talking about? He raised his arm and was about to cut me to ribbons when the doors slammed open. The four of us turned as one to look to see who had intruded, and the sight made my blood run cold.

Standing there was a woman no older than thirty, I guessed, with long black hair pulled up on top of her head and wearing a white trenchcoat. I couldn't remember who she was, but just the sight of her made me want to run away and hide somewhere far **far** away. She glanced over me quickly before turning her attention to the one standing over me. She clapped her hands and slammed them onto the ground. Bright blue light surrounded her hands and raced across the ground, straight toward us. The ground shifted under me, and a wall formed between me and the green-haired one. I quickly rolled over and up, backing away from him a bit.

"Ed, get Al out of here." She yelled. Was that my name? Ed? She clapped again, and this time the wall and part of the ground shot out around the green-haired one, capturing his feet and arms. He growled at her, and tried to break the stone holding him, when a dark-haired kid entered the room from behind the woman. He also had a metal arm and leg. He leapt at the green-haired one, and punched him.

"Wrath! What are you doing?" The green-haired one growled out, trying to avoid the boy's next punch unsuccessfully.  
"Helping them!"

"Why?"

"Because you don't deserve to win."

"ED!" The woman yelled, and got my attention. She had already gotten the boy free from the large man who held him, and was now fighting him. I hesitated for a moment. "GO!" She yelled, and I started moving. I ran over to the boy's side and, seeing that his left ankle was broken, slung his left arm over my shoulder and helped him to the stairs that started right outside the door. I paused for a moment, looking back over my shoulder. The lady was still fighting the large man and the boy was fighting the green-haired one, who had escaped the stone by this point. I continued helping the boy up the stairs, and we came out in an abandoned factory of some sort. I helped him get just outside the building, onto the grass outside, before he collapsed.

"Are you all right?" I asked him, kneeling next to him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He was lying. I could tell. But I chose to ignore it.

"You know who I am, obviously, but I don't. I don't even know my own name." He looked at me sadly for a moment.

"You're Edward Elric, my older brother." I nodded, and closed my eyes for a moment. I tried to remember past the pain, but everything was foggy. I couldn't remember anything still. It hurt too much. "I'm Alphonse."

"Who are those people? The lady scared me." Alphonse smiled a bit.

"She's our alchemy teacher, Izumi. The boy is Wrath, the green-haired one Envy, and the fat man Gluttony. Those last three are Homunculi, the products of human transmutation."

"They're like me, but they're murderers."

"Yeah." He said it quietly, almost like he didn't want to believe, but he had too. I could tell something was hurting him, but it wasn't his ankle. If I really was his older brother, that meant that I forgot about him, and that would hurt. It would be like I died. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't, not now at least. I stood up, and turned back toward the building. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"I have to go help them." He fell silent, and I took a few steps toward the building before he spoke up again.

"Wait! You can help more by staying out here. I need you to go search the floor up here and look for a giant array carved into it." I turned back to him. Array? He must have caught my confused expression, because he added an explanation. "It's a giant circle with a bunch of lines in it."

"What will a circle do?"

"It's a sealing array. It'll help Teacher. I need you to find it and take me to it, then lead Envy and Gluttony up here into it." I still wasn't sure how a circle could help, but I nodded and set off into the building, looking for the circle on the floor.

--

I watched Brother nod before he started searching the factory for the sealing array. I sighed before looking at my foot. It stuck out a strange angle, and it throbbed painfully. I had to keep going though. I pried my boot off carefully before rolling up my pant leg. It wasn't a pretty sight, but luckily I didn't see any blood or bone. I turned away from it and looked at the ground I was sitting on. I was too far away from the concrete to transmute any of that, so I would have to settle for what the ground offered. I placed a hand on it and figured out the chemical make-up of it. It was a simple enough trick for me and only took a few days of practice to get it right. Any experienced alchemist could do it, because it was the first step of transmutation; analyzing. I quickly found out that there was enough iron in the ground to transmute two small splints for my ankle, and I did so after clapping.

I tore off the bottom of my pant leg and set to work. First I had to move my ankle back into place. I took a deep breath to ready myself and quickly pushed it into its right spot. I bit my lip to keep from crying out, but it hurt worse than the actual break. It took me a few minutes to compose myself so I could finish setting the break. Okay, so I wasn't a doctor and was probably doing more harm than good at this point, but I couldn't walk anywhere unless it was supported. Plus, I had seen Winry's parents set Brother's broken leg this way before, and it couldn't be any worse than trying to walk around on it unsupported.

I placed the two iron splints on either side of my ankle and started wrapping it tightly with the torn cloth. I winced, but continued. After a minute I was done, and now all I could do was wait on Brother to get back. I knew the transmutation circle was still there, dug deep, since it was originally carved by Lust to seal Sloth, and no one else had been out here since then, except for the rest of the Homunculi and Tucker. I sighed a bit.

"Hey, I think I found it." Brother said, returning to my sight from inside the building.

"Good, take me to it." I said, trying to stand. He quickly made it to my side and finished helping me up before throwing my arm around his shoulders again and acting like a crutch for me. I took a tentative step, placing just a little weight on my broken ankle, and found that the brace held. He led me through the maze of factory machines before stopping in front of the giant sealing array.

"How will a circle help? And how did that lady do all that?" He asked me.

"Through alchemy. It's the science of rearranging matter into different forms and substances. It's based on the founding principal of..." He cut me off.

"Equivalent exchange." I looked at him in shock.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" He shrugged a bit.

"I just do. I can't really explain it, but it's like how I know you but don't. It's confusing..." I nodded.

"I think I get it. Anyway, do you think you can lure Envy and Gluttony here?" I asked him. He thought for a moment before nodding.

"I think I can."

--

"I think I can." I told him. I probably wouldn't be able to, but I had to give Alphonse some hope. He pulled his arm out of my grasp and steadied himself against the surrounding machines. I turned and took off back to the basement, and I tried to be as quiet as possible. Hopefully the lady and that boy - Izumi and Wrath, right? - had held them off or else captured them some sure-fire way. I made it to the bottom of the stairs silently, and peeked into the open doors. Envy and Wrath were still fighting, but Izumi was just standing over a small puddle of red goo. She looked to be in bad shape; there was blood all over her face and jacket, and she was holding her ribs with one hand while the other hung limply at her side. She was close to collapse, I could tell, and Wrath and Envy seemed to be doing nothing to each other.

I took a deep breath before stepping inside the room once more.

"Hey, Envy!" I yelled, catching his attention. "Why don't you stop wasting time and come after me?" He glared at me, and I let him bat away Wrath and start coming after me before taking off back up the stairs.

"GET BACK HERE!" He yelled after me, and I heard his footsteps following after me, but I didn't pause to look over my shoulders. I bust out of the small hallway the stairs were on, and I quickly ran toward the machinery. I paused, glancing back over my shoulder to see Envy run up the stairs. He looked around a bit before spotting me and running after me, arm-spike swinging. He yelled at me some more, but I didn't pay attention to it. I was too busy running for my life.

I zigzagged around the factory, not letting him know I was actually leading him somewhere with a purpose.

"BASTARD! STOP RUNNING AND FIGHT ME!" I found the circle, finally. I quickly stopped, and turned toward Envy. He raised his arm to slash me as soon as he was near enough, but I grabbed both his wrists. I used his energy against him and pulled him over my head, slamming him down on the ground behind me. I slammed him straight into the circle. I ended up on my back as well, but I quickly flipped over and moved back.

"NOW, AL!" I yelled, and saw him slam his hands down onto the edge of the circle immediately. That blue light lit up all the lines of the circle, and I saw Envy struggle to escape it. He couldn't even make it to his feet.

"Damn you..." He gasped before he was forced to throw up. Red stones were forced out of him, and I figured that was how we regenerated. I heard two sets of footsteps somewhere behind me, and I knew it was Izumi and Wrath, looking for us. I looked away from Envy and over my shoulder, and saw the pair was nearby already. Wrath was supporting Izumi, who looked close to falling over at any moment. Alphonse kept his hands on the circle firmly, trying to block out the sound of Envy retching with his mind.

"I told you this was a stupid idea, Envy." Wrath said quietly as he and Izumi made it over to us and they stood right outside the circle from us. He finally stopped heaving, and Wrath stepped forward a bit. He looked at Izumi, who clapped and touched the forearm on his metal arm as he held it out to her. The blue light encased it, and it rearranged into a deadly blade. "Any last words?" He asked coldly.

"...I'll... I'll see you in hell!" Alphonse lifted his hands from the circle, and the light faded immediately. Wrath stepped up to Envy quickly, and stabbed him through the heart. A soft white light encased him and when it faded, he looked different. He had golden hair just like mine and Alphonse's. Was this Envy's real face? Was he related to us? I turned away from him; I couldn't watch. It just didn't seem right. All right, so the guy had tried to kill me and the rest of us, but did he really deserve death? I glanced over at Alphonse, and he was looking away too. He didn't like this any more than I did, apparently.

"And then there were two..."

**To Be Continued**  
And so it ends. Well, kinda. There's one more chapter, and if anyone wants me to, I'll post the bonus/eleventh chapter after that.

Thanks so much to everyone from this week: kim carol, xXDeidara-chanXx, BlueRyuu, mrawgirl09, XxHouranxX, Lost In A Dark Wood, Yugisrose, demonalchemist5, and PrincessofYoukia!

_One Year Later_ shall be posted this Saturday, May 24th, 2008.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and say this, but if anyone has any questions about the plot/Red Stones/Ed's Ouroboros/ect. please let me hear them! I'm not the best when it comes to explaining everything, and I don't usually do inner-monologe stuff. It just doesn't really fit with anyone who knows anything, anyways.  
I had reasons behind everything that Ed has went through, but they never really made it in... So, I have answers at the ready for anyone who wants them! (I hate it when author/ess have stuff like this happen to people and it never gets explained or anything.)

Like always: Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	10. One Year Later

**The Ties That Bind  
Chapter Ten:**_  
One Year Later_

"...I can't believe it's already been a year..." Alphonse muttered under his breath as he stood on the upper balcony of the Rockbell home, leaning against the railing. It had been a year since the Gun-Factory incident, as Alphonse called it, and he was still waiting.

After Wrath killed Envy, Izumi helped Edward bring Alphonse back to Dublith where he was fixed up. He then proceeded to tell his brother about what they had done. They lived with Izumi for a little while, but when Alphonse told Edward that they were going to go home, Edward refused. He had told Alphonse that _'I'll come home when I remember where it is.' _His memories were slowly coming back to him, and Alphonse was helping as much as he could, but he understood his brother's wish. He needed to get away from everyone and everything he did know so he could focus more on remembering, as crazy as that sounded. Al had smiled and replied _'If you had said that a year ago, I wouldn't let you go, but I understand now.'_

Edward left the next day without a word to anyone except for a single scrap of paper with _'Thanks. See you later.' _written in his horrible handwriting. Al traveled back to Resembool alone, and told Winy and Pinako what had happened. Of course, Winry hadn't understood why Alphonse had let Edward run off on his own, and she raved about that for a week before Alphonse was finally able to make her understand. _'He wants to remember us, Winry, and he can't do that if we're here telling him what happened. He wouldn't listen when I told him stuff about what had happened to us. He only wanted to know about the world and how to take care of his automail. After that, he left, so he could find out everything on his own. He doesn't want us to be a crutch for him. He wants to be able to stand on his own!'_

Afterwards, Winry became just as friendly as she was before, and Alphonse asked if they would teach him how to make and maintain automail. He had become quite talented, actually, and he, Pinako, and Winry now split the customers coming in. Pinako was the doctor, of course, and did everything involved with surgery and the like while Winry and Alphonse designed the limbs and repaired them. It was a very effective system.

The room with the balcony off the front upstairs was now the workshop, and held all of their equipment and such. Winry had moved into one of the smaller rooms upstairs, next door to Alphonse's room.

"...When are you coming back?" He asked the wind as it picked up a bit in the early morning light. Alphonse, since the return of his memories, had become a morning person. He was nearly always up as the sun rose, and loved watching sunrise off the balcony when he could. So, he was standing up there now, watching the late October sunrise. Resembool's winter was dramatically different from that of Central's, and even though it was October, it was still fairly warm. It never dropped under freezing, even in the winter, so they didn't get snow here, and this winter was turning out even more mild. He looked down the road stretching out into the countryside and saw a person walking toward the house. Alphonse figured it was just one of the regular customers. Everyone but Winry in Resembool seemed to enjoy getting up early, and thus many started their day long before the sun had fully risen.

Alphonse went inside and down the stairs quietly, passing Pinako, who was on her way to the kitchen, where she would fix breakfast like always. He went out to the front porch and leaned against the railing there, waiting on the customer. However, as the customer drew nearer, Alphonse stared to make out who the person was.

He stood in shock as the person gave a short wave and flashed a big goofy grin as he entered the small patch of dirt surrounding the house. The breeze was back, and Alphonse unconsciously lifted a hand to push his bangs out of his face while the person made no attempt to control his long gold hair in the wind.

For several minutes only the sound of the person's red coat snapping in the wind was heard and then Alphonse smiled.

"Welcome home, Brother."

**The End!**  
That's it! Hope everyone's enjoyed it! Review and tell me if you want the bonus posted! I won't post it unless someone asks me to.

**IF** anyone wants it, the bonus _The Brother Who Came Home_ will be posted next Wednesday, May 28th, 2008.

Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed, and my weekly thanks to those who've reviewed/alerted me: mrawgirl09, Emma Oakwood, and Calmar Iowa!

Thank you for sticking with me! There is the posibility of a sequel, but I don't know if it'll ever get written.

Be kind! Feed plot-kitties! Review!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


	11. Epilouge: The Brother That Came Home

**The Ties That Bind  
Epilouge:**  
_The Brother That Came Home_

"Brother?" Alphonse asked, coming out onto the balcony of the Rockbell house. He stretched a bit and looked around, noticing a ladder nearby but not his brother. "I could've sworn he came out here..."

"I'm up here!" Ed called in a carrying-whisper. Al looked toward the sound of the voice, and found himself staring back toward the house and up. "On the roof!"

"Why are you up there?" Al asked, immitating his brother's volume, taking care not to be too loud. It was nearly midnight, and Pinako or Winry would kill both brothers if they woke them up. Alphonse walked over to the ladder and, after checking that it was at a suitable angle, climbed up it enough to see onto the roof, where he spied his brother. Edward was stretched out comfortably with his arms above his head. Alphonse saw a line of small squares jutting out of the roof of the house, and noticed that his brother was using one of those to keep himself on the roof.

"Thinking."

"Mind if I join you?" Edward looked over at his brother.

"Of course not." He said with a smile. Alphonse climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and, using the stones as steps, settled himself comfortably and quietly a few feet away from his brother.

"Aren't you cold out here? I mean, it is winter after all..." Al asked after a few minutes of silence, gazing up at the stars. While Alphonse was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and thick pants with socks, his brother was wearing a sleeveless shirt and thin pants with no socks or shoes.

"Not really... I got used to the cold while living up north, so this isn't so bad."

"Up north? Like near Mount Briggs?"

"Not _that_ far north. Just about a two-day walk north of New Optain."

"So that's where you were for a year. What did you do?" Alphonse asked, curious as to what his brother was doing to pass the time while his memories came back.

"I didn't tell you yet?" Edward asked, a bit surprised. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We were busy with your automail and too happy you were back to ask anything more than if you were alright." Even though Edward did regain many of his memories, he still wasn't quite normal yet. His personality was split between Edward and someone else. He was still as stubborn and loud as Edward, but he appologized quickly and was gentle, especially around Al and Winry. He was slowly gaining back bits of his old personality, but he caught them offguard often, like when he appologized for the simplest of things. Over the last few days since he had been home, however, he was becoming more and more like the old Edward; he had even thrown a short rant the day before.

"Okay... So, what I've been up too..." Edward looked back up at the stars and just let the words come to him. "I really didn't know where I was going, but I stayed in the town after I found it. It was small, and it's a lot like Resembool, except it's a coal-mining town instead of a farming town. I got a job at a bakery there, and lived with the young couple who ran it. They reminded me of the Hughes, minus children. Everyone in the town was nice, and everybody knew everybody and what everybody was doing, like they do here. They welcomed me easily, but were always curious about my automail, no matter how many times I explained everything about it. No one had ever seen automail there, but they accepted it after a few days and were really nice to me. A bunch of the miners would gather at the bakery, and we got to be good friends, all of us. They kept joking that I needed to come work in the mines with them, but I wouldn't ever joke about that with them. It was just too dangerous a job with too tiny a chance that I wouldn't get hurt. After all, I did promise you I'd come back, and I always try to avoid breaking my promises..." Edward fell silent, and continued to gaze up at the stars. Alphonse didn't try to question his brother for several minutes, and enjoyed the comfortable quiet between the two.

"...So... What are you going to do now, Ed?" He asked after a long stretch. "You're too much the Full Metal Alchemist to stay here for long..." He said with a small laugh. Ed laughed a bit with him, but fell silent, thinking.

"...Yeah... I'm thinking about going back to the military once I turn ninteen next year... Oh! That reminds me, I met with Roy on the way back here."

"Really? How?"

"He was doing a surprise inspection of East Headquarters, and I stopped by there to call him and tell him I wanted an extended leave of absense from work."

"What'd he say?"

"Nothing much. Just the same egotistical crap about being my supierior and making sure to tell him where I was and if I was okay and all that crap... And I've apparently been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He told me he'd cover for me as long as I didn't use my military funds too heavily. Like I'd go overboard on spending..." Ed said rolling his eyes. Al laughed a bit.

"You don't have to go back anymore."

"I know I don't _have_ to, but I think I want to. We really helped out a bunch of people, and it's nice knowing that we left a mark on others... not just those closest to us..." Ed fell silent a moment before sitting up. Alphonse, noticing the movement in the corner of his eye, turned to watch his brother, who was now holding his automail shoulder with his left hand.

"What's wrong?" He rolled his shoulder a bit and grimaced. Alphonse noticed his fingers start twitching, and Ed winced every time.

"I'm not sure, but my shoulder port's been aching for a while now."

"What! Why didn't you say something before!" Alphonse exclaimed, sitting up to look at his brother clearer.

"It's not that bad, and I honestly forgot about it. The last time it got like this was on the train the day before it pulled into the station here." He started going through his rehab excersises quickly before shaking out his hand and curling it into a fist. His pinky twitched a few times but other than that everything seemed normal.

"I think a current's jumping wires..." Alphonse bit back a yawn. "It shouldn't be too hard to fix..."

"I'll let you take it apart in the morning and fully disect me if you want, but you're getting in the bed now. You've been sitting up late and you always get up at the crack of dawn."

"You need sleep just as much as I do, I can tell. You haven't been sleeping well lately, I can hear you tossing around in your sleep a bunch. What's wrong?" Alphonse asked, and Edward looked up at the sky, avoiding his eyes.

"Bad memories." He said quietly after a stretch. "I told you I don't have all my memories back yet, and the worse ones come back at night." Alphonse nodded, knowing how hard this was for his brother to admit. He hated admitting that he was weak, and being plauged by nightmares was certainly a weakness in the older Elric's mind.

"I understand, Brother." Alphonse smiled a bit. "So let's get to sleep so Winry can royally beat you tomorrow morning for not telling us about your automail earlier." Edward nodded and the brothers climbed off the roof quietly (Edward transmuted the roof back to normal while standing on the ladder) before each went into their separate rooms.

Unbeknownst to either Elric, Winry had heard nearly the entire conversation. She had been working on a new design for automail at her desk in her room when she had decided to get up and stretch a bit. She had walked over to the window and opened it a bit when she heard Edward's voice drift down to her in an appology. She listened to the rest of the conversation, and had to hold back her tears.

_'No, Winry, you can't feel sorry for him. He hates that. He'll be back to normal soon and he'll be able to tell you pity him. No, no more pittying him. He's going to be all right soon, and then he and Alphonse will run off to who-knows-where and do who-knows-what and get into all sorts of trouble just like they used too... but... I won't stay here and wait on them anymore...'_

"I won't loose you again."

**The End!**  
Finally! I am very sorry to everyone who's been waiting on this for so long! I wasn't home to upload this chapter on the day I promised, and when I got home, my internet was shut off. I think they went out of buisness without sending out a notification to anyone, so it's taken me until now to actually get this uploaded. I hope I haven't kept people in too much suspense waiting on this.

Anyways, that's it. All done. I don't know if I'm actually going to continue this or not, because I haven't worked on it since I posted the last chapter. I'm actually working on a Full Metal Alchemist crossover at the moment, and if I ever get it typed up I'll post it when I'm done with it.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and/or added me to your favorites/alerts list. I planned on posting a big list, but I don't have very long to post this. Thanks a million to everyone anyways!

Well, it's been fun everyone and I hope to see you all next time!

Shadow Kat-Lyn


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